


your heart ain't a heavy burden

by AdelineVW7



Series: other lives and dimensions [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: #SSSnippetADay (Naruto), F/M, Gen, Howl's Moving Castle, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, Princess Mononoke - Freeform, SasuSaku - Freeform, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Freeform, The Wind Rises - Freeform, Whisper of the Heart - Freeform, ghiblisasusaku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28239720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelineVW7/pseuds/AdelineVW7
Summary: A compilation of ficlets set in Studio Ghibli AUs. Written for the #ghiblisasusaku event on Twitter.Part 1: Whisper of the Heart -- "There’s nothing to be sorry for. You helped me. By showing me your resolve to achieve your dreams, you lit a spark inside of me, too."Part 2: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya -- “If I could only stay—with you—I would always be happy.”Part 3: Princess Mononoke -- “Cease this strife! You only fight because of the curse of hatred that possesses you both, like demons dwelling in your hearts. You must not succumb to their calling.”Part 4: The Wind Rises -- "All dreams must end, my love."Part 5: Howl's Moving Castle -- “Do you think you have it bad? Never in my life—not once—have I ever been beautiful!”
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: other lives and dimensions [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959007
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	1. Whisper of the Heart

Sakura wakes to the dim blueness of the hour before dawn, feeling as if she were still in the clutches of a dream—as if anything is possible in the magic of the moment. None of her worries matter, and though Sasuke is in faraway Cremona, the distance does not seem so oppressive. _We’ll meet again,_ she tells herself. _He promised._

She goes and opens her windows, following the sudden desire to see the dawn breaking. But what greets her eyes is something far better than she could have ever imagined. Out on the street, Sasuke is sitting on his bicycle, waving to her. She gasps and rubs the sleep out of her eyes, scarcely believing it real—he is not due back until the following week. “Sasuke-kun, you’re back! Can this be true? Am I not dreaming you?”

He shakes his head, smiling. “I’m really here, Sakura. And I’m here for you.” He points to the backseat of the bicycle. “Come with me?”

“Me? But why?”

“There’s something I wanted you to see.” His face lights up with excitement, and an answering smile blooms on her face. “It will be worth it, I promise.”

“Alright!” she calls out, already snatching up a cardigan and scanning the room for her shoes. She makes short work of putting them on. “That silly boy. Of course it’ll be worth it. We’ll be together, after all.”

They meet on the sidewalk in front of her building, and there is a brief moment of shyness between them before Sasuke coughs out, “Hop on, then, Sakura. And hold on to me.” She complies, wrapping her arms loosely around him. He shakes his head. “Hold on tighter,” he rebukes gently. He takes her hands, pulling to make her hold on him more secure. She blushes, burying her face in the fabric of his jacket. “Is this better?”

“Much. Are you ready?”

“Always.”

They cycle through their little town, and it becomes a scene full of marvels for Sakura. It strikes her how different everything looks in the soft, dim light of the early morning, with no one else around. “It’s beautiful,” she whispers, awed. He only hums in agreement, focused on the road. But after a while he tells her, “Wait until you see what I have to show you, though.” There is accomplishment in his tone. “This is nothing yet.”

He ends up bringing them to a hill at the edge of town, with a view of their whole town. He pulls her to him, and wraps his jacket around her. He motions to the scene below, eyes bright with pleasure. “It’s almost time.” 

As if on cue, the sun’s first rays peek through the grey clouds, slowly illuminating the scene in front of them. They watch, enthralled, as the town seemed to wake before their very eyes.

“Wow,” she breathes out. “You’re right. This is incomparable.”

“I told you.”

For a while, they continue watching in silence, until Sasuke speaks again. “Listen, Sakura, I’m sorry. It was selfish the way I left you—I didn’t even think of the problems you could have been going through. I should have supported you, too, the way you did for me.” He squeezes her hand. “I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You helped me. By showing me your resolve to achieve your dreams, you lit a spark inside of me, too. You’ve inspired me, so much. So, thank you, Sasuke-kun.”

His breath catches in his throat at her speech. “You’re an amazing girl.” She smiles at him, and he gives in to the urge to embrace her. “C’mere.”

“I missed you.”

He hugs her tighter. “I know.”

“And I’ll miss you when you leave again for your apprenticeship.” She tries and fails to keep the tears in check. “Do your best there, okay?”

He pulls back suddenly, and she is struck by the intensity in his gaze. “Alright, you know what? This is highly irregular, but to hell with it.”

“… Sasuke?”

“Sakura.” He gets down on one knee in front of her. “When we’re older, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

She laughs, startled and touched by the gesture. “Get up, silly boy.” She pulls him up, and kisses him on the cheek. “I would very much love that.”


	2. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

A familiar voice bursts into plaintive song, and his heart stirs with an emotion he cannot name. He follows the sound and it leads him to the meadow near the bamboo grove. There his eyes meet with the most wondrous sight: _she,_ robed all in pink, standing tall amidst the summer grasses. Despite the fineness of her garment and the nobility of her stature, it seemed as if she belonged—a flower issuing from the humble, joyful earth. _Can it be?_ His voice comes out hushed, stilted. “… Little Blossom.”

She turns to face him, and there it was—the radiant loveliness he’d always known. “Sasuke-kun,” she calls out, fond. “It’s you.”

“What are you doing here,” he motions to her silk robe, “dressed like that?” 

She smiles. “I wanted to go home.” She looks away, and her face turns wistful as she gazes at the familiar wood around them. “After all those years, I’ve found that it’s all I ever wanted.”

“Home? Here? You can’t mean that.” His voice is gruff, disbelieving. “How can you want to live like this?” He motions to his patched up, dirty clothes, his worn sandals. He makes as if to grab her hands, but seeing the contrast between his scarred hands and her fair, dainty ones gives him pause. He sighs. “There’s nothing but hardship here.”

“You know that’s not true. We were happy. Among the trees and the flowers, living simply—being free.” She comes closer, and does not hesitate to put her hands in his. “Weren’t we?”

He shakes his head, and bitterness seeps into his tone. “That was years ago, Little Blossom. I doubt I could make you happy now.”

“You could, I know it.” She smiles but it quickly fades—her features crumple into an expression of inconsolable loss. “If I could only stay—with you—I would always be happy.”

Mingled sorrow and affection fill his heart at her words. He gets the sense that she is slipping away, and he pulls her into his arms, clutching tight. “Then stay! If it would make you happy, stay here with me.”

“It’s too late.”

“It’s not!” he protests. “You’re still here in my arms. And only tell me that you wish it, and I will never let you go.”


	3. Princess Mononoke

She senses the moment of his approach, and it is almost as if she were there to see: the way his wolf brothers pawed at the black earth as they ascended the mountain pass, the way he exhaled white into the cold evening air, the spring and tension in his limbs. Her heart stirs with the deepest sympathy as their encounter draws closer. _That you should hold such rancor deep inside your heart, wild prince!_ She sighs and steels herself to meet him. _Would that we could find a way to lift that curse!_

He bursts into the iron works with the force of a lightning strike. Tsunade’s guards are no match to the lethal grace of his movements—though armed with flame and iron, they do not even manage a single hit. Fleet-footed and sure, Sasuke tears through the rooftops, heading straight to Tsunade’s central fortress.

The women raise the alarms, and the men take up their iron-tipped spears. “Tsunade-sama! He’s out for you, beware!”

“Let him come!” Tsunade herself walks into the clearing in the midst of town, an open invitation to battle. She yells her challenge into the still air, “Wolf boy! You come here desiring vengeance for your fallen kin, but the wolves of the Uchiha have also wrought desolation and sorrow into the hearts of my people! There are many here whose kin your kind has brought to death.” Her speech inflames the fury of the townspeople, and someone lashes out, “That’s right! Come out, wolf prince—we have scores we must settle!”

Hearing the outcry, Sasuke halts his advance, and reveals himself standing on one of their tiled wooden roofs, poised to strike. Though masked and cloaked in wolfskin, his thirst to spill blood was palpable, and Sakura trembles to witness it. She holds her breath, merely watching, until she catches a fiery glow from the corner of her eye. She turns to see Tsunade’s men silently assembling in a hidden rampart, preparing to unleash cannon fire at Sasuke. Her heart drops, and immediately, she raises herself up to warn him. “Wolf prince! Return to your woods!” she beseeches him. “It is needless for you to lose your life here!”

He does not answer, nor does he show any signs of retreating. The evening suddenly fills with the howling of his kin. Sasuke briefly looks to the valleys beyond the enclosure, as if heeding the wolf cry. And then he begins running down the sloping roof, to launch himself at Tsunade.

Several things happen at once. Tsunade orders her men to fire, and the booming cannons deafen Sakura’s ears as she tries to intercept Sasuke. She fails to fully shield him—they are blown apart by the blast and Sasuke rolls off the roof. Sakura watches with mingled rage and horror as the men prepare to fire again, this time at the spot where Sasuke would fall. “Stop it!” she yells, composure finally breaking. “Stop!”

She hears only a volley of shots as a response, and then the crash as Sasuke hits the ground. His carved mask shatters upon impact. A hush descends upon the assembled crowd as they wait to see whether their cannons had finished him. But Sasuke springs to his feet and brandishes his blade, once more throwing himself into action. Tsunade likewise draws her sword, bracing for the coming blows. They clash, with the harsh clanging of metal, striving for mastery over the other.

The sight brings Sakura the profoundest sorrow. As if responding to her emotions, strength wells up in her cursed right arm, and this time she welcomes it. She approaches the battling pair, easily defying and overpowering the men who barred her way. She comes between Sasuke and Tsunade, parrying the blows they would have dealt the other.

“What are you doing, Sakura?”

“Tsunade-sama.” She grits out, as Sasuke vainly tries to disentangle himself from her. “His life is mine.”

Sasuke bites into her cursed arm, and Tsunade smiles grimly. “Do you mean to marry this wolf prince, then?”

Sakura shakes her head, determination burning in her gaze. When she speaks, her voice rings out with absolute firmness and clarity. “Cease this strife! You only fight because of the curse of hatred that possesses you both, like demons dwelling in your hearts. You must not succumb to their calling.” At her words, her cursed arm glows as if aflame, to the shock of everyone watching. “Behold! This is the curse that rots my flesh and brings me ever closer to my death!” She dares them answer back. “Would you have this as your fate?”

“Naïve young fool!” Tsunade screams. “I’ll cut your arm off!” She breaks loose of Sakura’s grip and raises her blade to make good on her words, but Sakura moves faster. She drives the butt of her sword into Tsunade’s stomach, and the older woman crumples to the ground. When Sasuke resists further, she strikes him too, knocking him out.

Sakura faces the watching throng, gaze growing gentle. “Won’t anyone help me with her?” It takes a moment, but some of Tsunade’s women warily come close. They unburden her of Tsunade’s weight, eyes sharp with suspicion. “She’ll be fine. Do not worry.” She heaves Sasuke onto her shoulders, preparing to depart. “I will be taking him with me.”

One of the women cries, “Wait!” Sakura halts, heeding her. “You hurt Tsunade-sama! You will pay!” She points a rifle at Sakura. “Do not move a single step from where you stand!”

Sakura’s face grows somber, and she only turns away. Outraged, the woman shoots, the bullet piercing clean through Sakura’s chest. Still, she holds herself up and walks on to the village gates, leaving a trail of crimson in her wake.

A nervous hush falls upon the townsfolk as they watch her pass. Those who have gained her acquaintance in the last few days scramble to stay her. “Sakura-san! You need not leave! You will die if you go on!”

“No.” Her voice has not lost its strength or surety. “I will leave here as I came—of my own free will.” She brings a slender arm to bear against the heavy wooden gate, and it budges, inch by inch, under her deceptive, monstrous strength.

“Farewell.” She steps into dark night, and is welcomed by the howling cry of Sasuke’s tribe.

Sasuke revives in the circle of Sakura’s arms, jolted into wakefulness by the uneven rhythm of the wolves’ advance through the forest. Alarmed, he roughly attempts to break free. Sakura’s hold almost instantly slackens around him, and she falls to the ground. When she remains unmoving, he approaches her, wary of any guile or trickery on her part.

But there is none, and his eyes widen as he takes note of her condition—her growing pallor, the bluish tint to her lips, the way her breath came only in shallow puffs. And the deep red stain blooming on her chest, mere inches below where her heart would be.

Fury builds inside of him. “So they shot you. Are you going to die?”

Her eyes slowly open, glassy and unfocused from the pain. She parts her lips, as if to answer, but no sound comes out. Sasuke’s anger burns more fiercely. “Why did you stop me? Speak while you still live!”

“I didn’t… want you to die.”

“It would not have mattered! I will gladly throw my life away if doing that would purge the Senju’s corruption!”

“I knew that, too, when I first… laid eyes on you.”

“Then why? You’ve wasted your life getting in my way!” He draws his blade, bringing the point to her throat. “Maybe I should just cut your throat to silence you!”

There is the briefest moment of silence, and her eyes drift closed. He is suddenly seized with the fear that she has already breathed her last, and a protest rises to his lips. But she opens her eyes again, and in her fever-bright gaze he glimpses something like tenderness.

“Live,” she breathes out. “You’re beautiful.”


	4. The Wind Rises

He kisses her lips, and already he could taste the acrid tang of decay in her mouth. Tears spring into his eyes, and he brings their foreheads together. "Sakura, don't go." His voice, though quiet, is trembling with emotion. "How could you leave me, when we've just found each other?" 

"Hush, my darling." She runs a wasted hand through his hair. "I won't be leaving you." 

"How can you say that? You..." The words fail him; he does not want to speak them for fear of hastening their parting. Not when she already seems set to go, her pallid face tinged with unreality—as if she has already begun crossing to the next life. "That's cruel, Sakura. Don't you lie to me now." 

"All dreams must end, my love," she tells him softly and slowly, as if speaking to a child. "Even the most beautiful ones." 

"But how do I go on without them?" He clutches tighter, as if to prevent her slipping from his grasp. "Help me." 

_How do I go on without you?_

"Live, Sasuke-kun. You must live." She brings her cold lips to rest on his forehead. "One day even you will be through with dreaming. And then..." A smile blooms on her face as she continues, "You and I will meet again, I swear it." 

"How can you be certain?" he dares her give him hope. 

"I know." Her response is immediate, and rang with the conviction of truth. "Even death cannot ever part me from you. And I will be waiting for you, no matter how long it takes." 


	5. Howl's Moving Castle

Sakura’s words echo in his mind, and he feels the faint but certain stirrings of regret.

_“It’s all beauty with you, and I’m sick of it! I’ve had enough of it, Sasuke!” She retreats from him, eyes blazing with hurt and anger. “Do you think you have it bad? Never in my life—not once—have I ever been beautiful!”_

She had stormed off and eventually fallen asleep in her tiny room. Sasuke tenderly watches as her self-imposed curse loosens its hold, revealing her to be a fair young woman with the most unusual rose-coloured hair. She sighs in her sleep, as if deeply unhappy, and though he had long ago given up his heart there is a whisper of pain inside his chest. He frowns. “But you’re beautiful, Sakura,” he murmurs, as he gently moves hair away from her face. “How come you don’t know it? What kind of enchantment would it take for you to believe it?”

He sighs and stands up, with a renewed resolve to cherish and protect. They have many problems still; both the king and the witch of the Waste are hot on their trail, each with their own reasons, and it will be hell if either finds them. There will be time enough later—for him to make it known to her how beautiful he finds her, how thoroughly she has bewitched him.

He places a kiss on the corner of Sakura’s lips, taking his leave. “Be safe,” he prays. “Until next time.”


End file.
